Derailment no threat to waterside festival

June 27, 2007

Updated: Monday, June 7, 2010 (11:04)

FEARS that a massive festival and boat show in St Ives would be cancelled due to the derailment of a goods train over the river have been dismissed by organisers. Thousands of people and nearly 350 boats are expected at the Inland Waterways Association e

FEARS that a massive festival and boat show in St Ives would be cancelled due to the derailment of a goods train over the river have been dismissed by organisers.

Thousands of people and nearly 350 boats are expected at the Inland Waterways Association event taking place on the river Ouse in St Ives over the August bank holiday weekend.

But is was feared the event would be cancelled when it was announced that a bridge at Ely, which would offer access to the festival would remain closed for 14 to 26 weeks after a train derailment on Friday.

Gillian Bolt, press officer for the festival said the event would be going ahead as planned. She said: "We will be asking for temporary scaffolding to be put up following removal of the carriages so that boats can still get through. Boaters will also be able to use the New Bedford River route to Earith to avoid the obstruction at Ely and the lock keepers will be pleased to assist."

The derailment took place on Friday at about 3am leaving two wagons overhanging a bridge near Littleport. The line is mainly used as a freight route and only one commuter service was said to have been affected. Rail firm English, Welsh and Scottish said no-one was injured.

A spokesman for Network Rail said an investigation will be carried out before the train is removed from the single line track. The spokesman added: "Once we have removed the carriageways we can assess the damage. We may need to rebuild the bridge. We are working as hard as we can to sort it out.